


The Fair (Inktober Day 6)

by cherryberry12



Series: Inktober 2020 [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, cherry decided to stop kinning itachi and make him hate the fair, i wrote this WHILE listening to country music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26965699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryberry12/pseuds/cherryberry12
Summary: "There’s very little about the fair that appeals to Itachi. The air is heavy with diesel, dirt, and country music, none of which he could tolerate in isolation, let alone all at once."
Relationships: Background sasuke/Sakura, Karin/Uchiha Itachi
Series: Inktober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958443
Kudos: 3





	The Fair (Inktober Day 6)

**Author's Note:**

> Another modern AU!
> 
> Also, someone asked this on FF and I thought I'd repeat it here--I have a lot of prompts left to fill, so if there's an AU you want or something you wanna see, don't hesitate to ask! I might not be able to fit it into what I've already planned out, but I've got a lot of flexibility in the prompts I have left!

After they’ve been waiting behind the line food trucks for fifteen minutes, Itachi shoots Karin a concerned look, “Are you certain Sasuke and Sakura are coming this way?”

“Yep.” Karin pops the _p_ in a lazy, drawn-out kind of way, eons more relaxed than he is. “I told Sasuke right where we’d be going.”

Itachi checks his BlackBerry. It’s been more than an hour since Sasuke last responded to one of his texts, though that isn’t anything unusual anymore—nowadays, he supposes, he’s lucky if Sasuke responds to him at all.

“Elephant ear?” Karin offers, holding the thin paper plate toward him. It’s the least she can offer, especially since he’d bought it for her.

“I’ll eat when Sasuke comes,” he says, noncommittal. “It should not be much longer.”

“If you say so.” Karin tears off another piece of fried dough then wipes her sticky fingers on her bare thighs. 

They’ve been waiting long enough as it is—Itachi is beginning to feel a little nervous. He and Karin had initially parted from Sasuke and Sakura so that Sakura could make a quick run to the restroom, and the expectation was that they would all regroup later and continue on to see whatever else there was to see at the fair.

At this point, Itachi thinks, the sooner they’re able to leave, the happier he’ll be.

“You just need to chill out and enjoy the fair,” Karin says. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna eat this good again until Thanksgiving.”

Even though the fair is thankfully a once-a-year occurrence, Karin seems well-adjusted to it—she’s dressed in a loose flannel, the ends of it unbuttoned and tied into a knot, baring her midriff. She’s wearing it over a pair of bleached, cut-off denim shorts, ones that are so short and so cut off that he can easily see the bottoms of her pockets peeking out from under the hems. 

Karin had earlier claimed a space for herself on top of a picnic table, her well-worn but suspiciously clean cowboy boots tapping off-rhythm on the bench, not at all conscious of the fact that someone else was eventually going to have to eat where she was sitting.

Assuming that Sasuke and Sakura would be arriving shortly, Itachi had elected to stand. The earlier this was over with, the better. 

There’s very little about the fair that appeals to Itachi. The air is heavy with diesel, dirt, and country music, none of which he could tolerate in isolation, let alone all at once.

And the heat… The days have been getting cooler, but it seems fall had preserved exactly one remaining warm day and decided to unleash it upon him at the least opportune moment. 

He is, of course, terribly dressed for it. He’s in a pair of loafers and dark jeans that are already speckled with dirt even though all he’s done is walk. 

“Sasuke is taking far too long,” he decides. He checks his BlackBerry again—there are no texts from Sasuke, though there’s a notification from Discord:

**call me mom and ill ban you (#general-chat, Nagato’s Gremlins): @everyone Deidara has been given a two week suspension for reasons I’m sure you all can guess. Enjoy your weekends - Konan**

Itachi clears his notifications. “I am going to text Sakura now,” he says, announcing it first in the hope that Karin will offer to text Sakura instead. 

He has no personal grievance with his brother’s girlfriend, but she’s already blocked him on Twitter, and he’s somewhat anxious to remind her that she - probably - hasn’t blocked him elsewhere. 

Karin does not offer to text Sakura. Instead, she rolls her eyes at him. “They’re fine; you need to chill out.”

“It does not take this long to find a restroom.”

Instead of replying, Karin sighs and fishes her iPhone out of her pocket, its screen so cracked that it’s a wonder she doesn’t cut her fingers unlocking it. She scrolls through notifications with her elephant ear balanced precariously on her lap until she stops on one and taps on it. “Sakura texted me like ten minutes ago saying they were going to look at cows.”

“Why would they—” By his best reckoning, the cows were near the eastern entrance to the fair, which meant Sasuke and Sakura had gone _further_ away from them. “Then when are they coming here?” 

Karin shrugs. “Probably never.” 

“Probably never,” he repeats. Suddenly, it clicks. “They were never planning to meet us again, were they?”

“Eh. Well, not exactly. Originally they just wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel alone cause you were making shit awkward, but then I think they just decided to keep going.” Karin tears off another strip of fried dough and pops it into her mouth. 

With her mouth full, she adds, “Sasuke said I could probably talk you into buying me food if I got you off their backs and he was right.” 

Karin seems decidedly unbothered that she’d essentially been used as a decoy. “If that was what Sasuke wanted, he could have simply asked me to leave and I would have left.”

“You wouldn’t have listened.”

“Well, someone should be looking after them.”

“Or not.” Karin licks powdered sugar off of her fingers. “I mean, I think Sasuke and Sakura are both well out of the ‘maybe they’ll get kidnapped’ age range, and I think you already missed the boat on the whole chastity thing.”

He gives her a horrified look, but Karin only shrugs. “Listen, I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true.”

Itachi’s sanity and sensibilities both demand that they change the topic of discussion. “Is Sasuke upset with me, then? That he wanted me removed from the gathering?”

“And they call _me_ dramatic, geez.” Karin takes the time to roll her eyes at him first before she continues. “Sasuke wants to play some tonsil hockey at the fair, and who's gonna do that with their brother watching?” She pauses. “I mean, that probably still wouldn’t stop him, but it’d make Sakura super uncomfortable.”

“In that case…” If Sasuke and Sakura weren’t coming, he had no reason to wait any longer to eat. “Perhaps I will have some of that elephant ear.”

Karin draws away from him and leans over, holding the paper plate just out of his reach. “Yeah, well if you want some, you’re gonna have to buy your own.”

“I bought that one,” he reminds her. 

“Go buy your own,” she repeats. 

Itachi sighs. Clearly that isn't a fight he's going to win. “At this point, I suppose there’s no point in me staying here any longer.” He bends over slightly to brush the ungodly amount of accumulated dirt off of his pants. “Do you need a ride back to Kushina’s, or is Sasuke still planning to drive you home?”

Karin frowns. “What, you’re not going to hang around?”

He doesn't hesitate to give her an honest reply. “Quite frankly, this is one of the most miserable places I’ve ever had the misfortune of visiting.”

“There’s a lot of fun shit to do here; you just need to know where to look for it.” She gives him a sly look. “I could show you if you wanted.” His distaste must be evident on his face, because Karin huffs and finally jumps down from the picnic table. “Oh, come on! What else are you gonna do tonight besides mope and stalk Sasuke’s Twitter?”

He weighs his options. Considering that Sakura has already taken the initiative of blocking him, it’s only a matter of time before Sasuke considers it as well. “Are you going to make me buy you more things?” 

Karin grins, and he's already beginning to regret asking. “I mean yeah, but other than that, what’s the worst that could happen?”

**Author's Note:**

> As a tiny point of clarification, skr blocking itachi on twitter is 100% about him creeping on sasuke's stuff and not like, a personal thing.
> 
> As always, thank you all for reading, for leaving kudos, for leaving comments, and for indulging Cherry's weird little obsession with rarepairs.


End file.
